Brent rebuild details to know before you accept that lottery spot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Ward 6 parent who has been through this at another school, just cosigning the posters explaining that no DCPS principal, even the best one, would have been pulled into the decision making process on swing space selection. The comment that DCPS does not consult, they assign, is 100% correct. And you better get used to it because the whole process is that way-- the selection of the architectural firm, scheduling, etc. You will have some ability to weigh in on the process but it's really going to be minimal. To a great degree you will have to suck it up and deal with a lack of power in order to get the main thing you need, which is a new school.

If there was a real viable alternative to Meyer, it would be worth pushing for. But I don't think there is. DCPS will not be colonizing office buildings. They don't "think outside the box." The sooner you get used to this, the better.

yes and know. the big decisions (like when modernization starts, the size, the footprint, and the swing space location) are all susceptible to political influence. the acutuak design, not so much, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Avoiding highways, I’m seeing the drive from Brent to Meyer is 18 minutes at 7:45am. Add 10 minutes for a slow bus and that gets you to about 30. But where are the 45-60 minute estimates coming from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoiding highways, I’m seeing the drive from Brent to Meyer is 18 minutes at 7:45am. Add 10 minutes for a slow bus and that gets you to about 30. But where are the 45-60 minute estimates coming from?

People may be thinking if what the round trip would be? Agree if the bus leaves before 8 am, the commute is not that bad.

I know I would struggle with getting my kid to school that early though. Mine is not an early riser and it can be hard getting to school by 8:15 as it is. For instance, I'm 90% sure she went back to bed after breakfast just now even though she's supposed to be brushing teeth and getting dressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoiding highways, I’m seeing the drive from Brent to Meyer is 18 minutes at 7:45am. Add 10 minutes for a slow bus and that gets you to about 30. But where are the 45-60 minute estimates coming from?

They’ll build in that amount of time to load and unload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoiding highways, I’m seeing the drive from Brent to Meyer is 18 minutes at 7:45am. Add 10 minutes for a slow bus and that gets you to about 30. But where are the 45-60 minute estimates coming from?

Have you driven through DC on a Friday versus a Tuesday? Fridays are great. Mondays are bad but not like they used to be. T-Th are like the good ole days of gridlock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

“A bus is an exciting new experience for a young child who has never had to be on one stuck in traffic five days a week. It will stop being exciting pretty quickly.

Our job as parents is to advocate for their best interests, and Meyer is not that in any way.”

You realize most kids around the country take a bus though, right? This isn’t some novel thing they will be doing

My suburban bus route was 15-20 minutes max.

Are they really not contemplating putting adult minders on the bus? With such young kids that seems very irresponsible. Certainly when I put my kids on the bus for summer camps there are adult supervisors on the bus.

In addition to adult supervision, could be fun to train up some 4th and 5th grade bus patrols. Not a replacement for adults with such young kids, but could be a fun thing for the kids.

And even with all that, the length of bus ride they’re contemplating here seems absurd. It shouldn’t even be allowed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Nice White Parents - Put on your big kid pants, suck it up, and deal with this. Stop with the hare brained, knee jerk ideas for a swing space that make zero sense. The bus isn’t crossing the Donner Pass or driving through Fallujah. Kids are resilient and will handle this okay. It sounds like some of you aren’t. Norah has a plan and has our back. I for one fully trust her. Don’t screw this up for people who have been waiting for this for years. This conversation is petty, elitist, and insulting for the parents and kids who have come through Brent and left and had to deal with an outdated and disrepair school. It’s 2 years…suck it up. You get an amazing school at the end.

“I TRUST NORAH” I chant repetitively while my brain slowly leaks out of my ears.

“SHE HAS A PLAN” other parents respond.

My trance is broken after my kid spent an hour on the bus getting to school on an 85 degree September morning.

Just like the majority of the country who takes busses to school.

I don’t think the majority of the country sends their elementary students on 40 minute bus rides. Certainly I don’t think that’s the case on the east coast. Maybe somewhere rural I guess.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Where is this hour bus ride coming from? It would take an hour to walk the three miles.

North Capitol during rush hour is among the worst traffic in the city. It legitimately took CHML ECEers 45 minutes+ every morning and CHML is on G St NE already! The afternoon commute isn’t as bad because it’s not also rush hour.

Could this not be solved by having the busses leave Brent earlier? Or would the early start be too much for the little snowflakes?

you're a jerk (but you know that already) but for others who are trying to understand the issue, it's worth addressing but there are two problems with this.

The biggest, and most expensive, is expanded hours for aftercare. Starting an hour earlier doesn't mean parents are off work an hour earlier, and all of the sudden they've got to pay for 30% more aftercare. Of course, DCPS nor Brent admin have addressed this yet.

Second, a 4 year old should not have to get up at 6am or whatever hour just because DCPS can't find the will to solve this problem more effectively. It's punative on some level, which is why people are upset.

Not OP here, honest question: Brent's aftercare is not hourly/is by the day and admin has already said there will be an aftercare bus. Why would it cost more?

Because it's longer. Adding an hour to aftercare adds an hour of costs.

Sorry: still don't get it. Aftercare charges by the day not by the hour, and if the bus is leaving an hour before aftercare ends now, isn't that less expensive/fewer hours anyway?

PP means before care. No way they could force all kids in the IB to pay for before care if that’s when the only buses arrived. Also, good luck getting enough staff for aftercare unless you’re going with a private provider, which will charge $$$. Much easier to get staff for aftercare than before care.

Even more confused now how this is more expensive. Brent already has a private provider; if buses are leaving when beforecare normally would start then there's no need for paying for beforecare; if they're leaving an hour before the current pickup time there's shorter aftercare hours not more. What am I missing?

This is all a chain in response to the suggestion to move the bus to an earlier time to avoid rush hour. So you have the kids picked up at 7 and they get to the school at 7:30… What then? School doesn’t start until 8:30. I’m having trouble seeing what you’re finding complicated to understand.

Ok but if the bus commute is an hour, kids leave at 7am and get to school at 8am, and checked into their classroom at 8:15. If school starts at 8:30 this seems to cut out the need for beforecare completely.

if kids need to be on the bus 90 minutes before school actually starts -- and likely leave their houses even earlier -- how in the world could this site have been chosen? this is insanity.

What, you mean like the people who have jobs that require them to drop off at the same time now because they have to go to work? Sorry that my work schedule is "insane" to you, I can send you the bill if you'd like to help out.

I don’t think anyone is trying to attack you personally for what works best for your family. But it’s obviously not good to require this for everyone. My kindergartener doesn’t even wake up naturally until 7:30 or sometimes even later. To be required to get kids that age up so early and interrupt the critical sleep of a good many of them is insanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear Nice White Parents - Put on your big kid pants, suck it up, and deal with this. Stop with the hare brained, knee jerk ideas for a swing space that make zero sense. The bus isn’t crossing the Donner Pass or driving through Fallujah. Kids are resilient and will handle this okay. It sounds like some of you aren’t. Norah has a plan and has our back. I for one fully trust her. Don’t screw this up for people who have been waiting for this for years. This conversation is petty, elitist, and insulting for the parents and kids who have come through Brent and left and had to deal with an outdated and disrepair school. It’s 2 years…suck it up. You get an amazing school at the end.

How is this elitist? That’s a head scratcher.

[Anonymous]

Part of me is laughing because I know so many Cap Hill parents who send their kids to summer camps that involve 1 hour one-way bus rides with no problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

“A bus is an exciting new experience for a young child who has never had to be on one stuck in traffic five days a week. It will stop being exciting pretty quickly.

Our job as parents is to advocate for their best interests, and Meyer is not that in any way.”

You realize most kids around the country take a bus though, right? This isn’t some novel thing they will be doing

My suburban bus route was 15-20 minutes max.

Are they really not contemplating putting adult minders on the bus? With such young kids that seems very irresponsible. Certainly when I put my kids on the bus for summer camps there are adult supervisors on the bus.

In addition to adult supervision, could be fun to train up some 4th and 5th grade bus patrols. Not a replacement for adults with such young kids, but could be a fun thing for the kids.

And even with all that, the length of bus ride they’re contemplating here seems absurd. It shouldn’t even be allowed.

No they are not contemplating on putting the kids on alone. Not sure where that one came from but the planning includes planning for bus aides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all due respect to the current parents, who are you going to complain to? DCPS? Great, it is run by the Mayor who hates Brent. And as she has proven over and over again, doesn’t need Brent, or really any of Ward 6’s vote to win. Or maybe you can complain to Charles while 10% of the neighbor has signs pushing for the recall.

It isn’t your fault but you still have to follow in the foot steps of the parents 10+ years ago that asked for a Brent only MS and/or for Brent to go to 8th grade.

Organize all you want, but there just isn’t a winning hand here.

I’d never heard of the 8th grade thing but of all the insane and entitled things about Brent, that one is the craziest. Ooof.

Agree with it or not, think it’s a good idea or not, but why is it insane or entitled? There are preK-8 schools in DC. Walker Jones, SWW@FS, CHML, Browne all come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

“A bus is an exciting new experience for a young child who has never had to be on one stuck in traffic five days a week. It will stop being exciting pretty quickly.

Our job as parents is to advocate for their best interests, and Meyer is not that in any way.”

You realize most kids around the country take a bus though, right? This isn’t some novel thing they will be doing

My suburban bus route was 15-20 minutes max.

Are they really not contemplating putting adult minders on the bus? With such young kids that seems very irresponsible. Certainly when I put my kids on the bus for summer camps there are adult supervisors on the bus.

In addition to adult supervision, could be fun to train up some 4th and 5th grade bus patrols. Not a replacement for adults with such young kids, but could be a fun thing for the kids.

And even with all that, the length of bus ride they’re contemplating here seems absurd. It shouldn’t even be allowed.

No they are not contemplating on putting the kids on alone. Not sure where that one came from but the planning includes planning for bus aides.

That is good to hear, thank you for this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Nice White Parents - Put on your big kid pants, suck it up, and deal with this. Stop with the hare brained, knee jerk ideas for a swing space that make zero sense. The bus isn’t crossing the Donner Pass or driving through Fallujah. Kids are resilient and will handle this okay. It sounds like some of you aren’t. Norah has a plan and has our back. I for one fully trust her. Don’t screw this up for people who have been waiting for this for years. This conversation is petty, elitist, and insulting for the parents and kids who have come through Brent and left and had to deal with an outdated and disrepair school. It’s 2 years…suck it up. You get an amazing school at the end.

“I TRUST NORAH” I chant repetitively while my brain slowly leaks out of my ears.

“SHE HAS A PLAN” other parents respond.

My trance is broken after my kid spent an hour on the bus getting to school on an 85 degree September morning.

Just like the majority of the country who takes busses to school.

I don’t think the majority of the country sends their elementary students on 40 minute bus rides. Certainly I don’t think that’s the case on the east coast. Maybe somewhere rural I guess.

And most of the country doesn’t have universal preschool.

It’s okay though not ideal for the older kids. It’s real mindset and lifestyle change given how walkable the Hill is, but it is what other school districts do. However, it would absolutely make me change my mind about sending my kid to pre-k at Brent, and maybe even kindergarten (depending on the kid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Part of me is laughing because I know so many Cap Hill parents who send their kids to summer camps that involve 1 hour one-way bus rides with no problem.

2 months vs 2 years.